Urban Realm : Management Buy Out

Urban Realm News

Urban Realm, the UK’s oldest architectural magazine and organisation behind The Carbuncle Awards, has been acquired by two members of its management team from Carnyx Group Limited.

Founded in 1922 as Prospect, Urban Realm was relaunched last year under then editor Gordon Young, in a move that culminated in the title winning recognition as Magazine of the Year by PPA Scotland.

Now however deputy editor John Glenday and sales director Kasia Katarzyna have assumed full control of the title via a new entity, Urban Realm Limited.

Included in the deal is a quarterly magazine, urbanrealm.co.uk, the Scottish Architecture Annual and the well known Carbuncle Awards; which seeks to identify the most dismal towns in Scotland each year.

John Glenday & Gordon Young, Urban Realm, Carnyx Groupimage from UR

Gordon Young, who as well as editing Urban Realm is a director of Carnyx Group said: “Urban Realm was one of the best fun magazines I have ever worked on, which also had a very serious agenda; campaigning for a better urban environment.

“I launched the Carbuncle Awards as part of that campaign – by naming and shaming towns that were failing their communities it served as a catalyst for improvement.

“We were passionate about the magazine and that message which is why we are delighted John and Kasia will now give the publication the focus it deserves.”

The disposal by Carnyx Group, is part of a plan that will see it focus in on its core areas of serving the creative marketing and media industry.

As well as The Drum and its website the company run a range of awards; including the Scottish Design Awards and the DADIs (Drum Awards for the Digital Industries), The Recommended Agency Register; an organisation that matches clients with the right marketing services provider and the Marketing Industry Network; an association that shares knowledge across the marketing industry.

Gordon Young now moves to edit The Drum, taking over from Richard Draycott, who becomes managing director of the Marketing Industry Network.

A series of exciting changes for this Scottish architecture magazine are planned for 2011, including better integration of our websites, more frequent online updates and the introduction of a digital magazine. John Glenday said: “It is 89 years since this architecture magazine (then known as Prospect) first began to tame the urban jungle, but these latest changes illustrate how the magazine remains as valid to today’s audience as it did to those in 1922.”